


Déja Vu

by logarhythm



Series: Reunion Has Come [1]
Category: No. 6 (Anime & Manga), No. 6 - All Media Types, No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: Angst, Drug Use, Fluff, M/M, Post-Series, Reunion Fic, finally the time has come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 10:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4561305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logarhythm/pseuds/logarhythm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A decade after that fateful stormy night, Shion receives the best birthday present he could hope for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Déja Vu

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, just re-posting from the original place on ff.net as I try to (eventually) relocate to this site.

A small, warm puff of air was exhaled into the dark room. It was only very quiet, but it broke the cold silence like a scream. Another followed, sounding very much like the most recent semiquaver in the constant melody of melancholic sighs that escaped from Shion's lips.

On most days, the hollow cavity in his chest was bearable. He would wake in the morning and smile, and go to work, and come home to his mother - who still welcomed him with loving arms, despite the fact that he should have moved out years ago - who talked with him and ate with him, and who kissed him on the forehead and wished him goodnight, and then he would lie in bed and try desperately to swallow the ache in his throat and squash the painful thoughts until he finally fell into an uncomfortable and fitful sleep from which he would frequently wake, haunted by vague, unpleasant dreams.

It had become routine, and once a routine was ingrained into Shion's subconscious, it became very difficult to break.

Shion accepted that this was one of his more worrying flaws, as it had also led to a marijuana addiction. He'd been offered some by Rikiga after a stressful day at work last year and hadn't stopped since.

But somehow, tonight, even that fact seemed insignificant.

He leaned his head backwards from his place slouched on the floor until it collided with the edge of his mattress. He sighed, again, and closed his eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Shion," he muttered absently to himself.

A half-empty bottle of beer was lifted to his lips by his left hand, which was shortly replaced with a joint by his right.

He breathed out slowly and gazed at the damp patch in the corner of his ceiling.  _I suppose I should get that looked at,_  he thought idly.

Shion had declined all birthday party offers, including a pub crawl with his colleagues on the Restoration Committee, a free prostitute for a night and a bottle of fine wine (offered by Rikiga, at which Inukashi had been appalled) and even a traditional 'birthday dinner' with his mother. Since that day six years ago, he hadn't enjoyed birthdays much anymore. They always reminded him of a certain person.

_Talking about that night..._  He turned to face the window, curtains drawn back so he could see the stars, although his efforts were in vain because the stars were shielded by large, feisty storm clouds.

"A stormy birthday night, huh... It doesn't feel like ten years ago."

A small smile tugged at his lips as the first drops of rain began to  _pitter-patter_  at the thin window panes, as if they were knocking, begging him to throw the window open...

Very quickly, all thoughts were drowned out by the intense sounds from the sky, thunder roaring with a violent ferocity and raindrops slamming into the glass with an almost angry intensity. The howling winds shot past the house and Shion suddenly felt like the sky was crying.

Shion wanted to cry, too.

He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but he dropped the alcohol and the lit joint - minding to stamp it out and blinking at the slight pain to his bare foot - and wandered over to the window as if there was some unknown force, some higher power guiding his movements.

It wasn't quite a hurricane, but it would do.

He pulled the latch and gasped as the harsh wind opened the window for him. Suddenly, the emotions he'd suppressed over the years - every tear he'd bitten down, every intense pang of jealousy at the happy couples he saw in the street, every spark of anger at the pitying look in people's eyes - all rumbled in his gut like wilderbeast charging closer and closer and his hands shook and his eyes stung and his heart burst open in red like the skies above him and cried.

Shion screamed.

He screamed, even when his throat was raw and even when his lungs felt like they would collapse and even when his neighbour opened the window and complained loudly at the noise.

Then, when he was all out of screams, he clutched the window sill and cried.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself."

He let out a gasp and tasted rain on his tongue. Rain, and something darker. Something deeper and darker, a muddy, bitter taste like over-brewed coffee that all those years ago had driven him insane in his sleep.

"Nice weather for a birthday party, isn't it?"

The familiar sour sarcasm hung in the air, but there was nothing negative about his tone. Shion could  _hear_  the smile.

"Nezumi..." he breathed to the sky, hesitant to speak. Though it was uncommon, marijuana was a hallucinogen and so he knew it could cause hallucinations.

He knew, and yet... this felt  _real_.

"Well who else would be hiding in your garden in the middle of a storm? Use that sharp brain of yours for once, Shion."

Shion thought he was going to collapse.

"And let me in quickly, I'm getting soaked out here. It's raining, in case you couldn't tell."

It was dark, but Shion's keen eyes still made out the silhouette on the small lawn. He was standing with feet firmly apart, shoulders hunched and hands stuffed in the pockets of his shiny leather jacket, slick with rainwater.

_He looks cold._

Shion blinked and drew in a wheezing breath -  _I didn't realise I'd been holding it_  - and immediately snapped into action. He leaned over, the sharp windowsill cutting painfully into his waist and right hip as he hoisted himself as far out of the window as he could get. The dark figure ran towards the house; he grabbed the drainpipe and leapt up half a storey with feline grace that took Shion's breath away. He placed his feet firmly against the wall and, one hand supporting his weight on the drainpipe, lifted the other hand to meet Shion's - and then Nezumi was crouching in the window, one foot on the sill and one dripping muddy water on the carpet.

Despite his effort, he wasn't at all out of breath.

Shion had barely moved, but faced with Nezumi again after so long feeling  _empty_  gave him significant difficulty breathing.

_I'm dreaming_ , he thought wildly, his emotions in disarray.  _This is some horrible nightmare, and I'm going to wake up and realise that Nezumi is never coming back._

"It's not a dream," a deep voice murmured, and Shion could have fainted because even after all this time, Nezumi could still read his mind as if he was just an open book - "Shion."

"Nezumi."

Thin lips twisted into a wry smirk. "Is that the only word you can say now?"

Shion suddenly felt a wave of every emotion he'd ever felt - and it was all so surreal. Only Nezumi could make him feel like this - so confused, disorientated, angry, stressed out, sad, elated, euphoric... and  _alive_.

"You..." he muttered, not caring that his voice was rough from screaming and was shaking horribly. "You total arsehole."

Nezumi let out a snort. "Sorry." He stepped fully into the room, and his sculpted eyebrows rose in surprise.

"What?" Shion snapped, far more aggressively than he'd intended.

"You've grown."

Shion immediately felt a rush of irritation, embarrassment and childish pride - and laughed. He laughed and wondered if he'd smoked a bit too much that night or if he was finally going insane - but he decided that he didn't care, because Nezumi was standing like a drowned rat in his bedroom, creating a horrible puddle on his floor and staring at him with such an intense look, and Shion was completely lost in those captivating grey eyes all over again.

The laughter subsided and Shion slowly stepped forward until he was directly in front of the man - and a small part of him noticed how Nezumi seemed shorter and smaller than in his memories, but that was because Shion had grown up - and he leaned forward and closed his eyes, and kissed him.

It was a chaste, sweet kiss that probably only lasted a few seconds, but it sent a rush of euphoria through his soul and made him giddy.

"... What was that?" Nezumi whispered after they parted, fixing him with a gaze so deep and so full of emotion that Shion almost forgot to answer.

Shion smiled widely. "A welcome-home kiss."


End file.
